A Las Vegas Blog.
Driving around Las Vegas and taking photographs, so you don't have to.

Wednesday, May 30, 2007

The Sahara - A VW MiniBus - Broken Sunglasses - 100 Degrees

I bought a pair of IronMan sunglasses last week. The left arm broke off in less than 7 days when I touched them gently. Sunglasses are important in Las Vegas. It gets very bright, and I feel cooler, when it seems darker, even if it is a hundred or a hundred fifteen degrees. (By the way, we are now reaching 100 degrees F as the daily high. The television news says it is only 99, that we haven't reached 100 yet. So I am to be credited with breaking this news flash...we have already hit 100, and the TV news specialists can go back to sleep until next year.)

You would think that the official IronMan sunglasses would last more than a week. Not in Las Vegas. Not when the arms are plastic without any metal center as a bone. The plastic got weak in the heat, and now I wear my IronMan sunglasses with only a right arm.

I have been trying to find a suitable replacement, (actually an upgrade), but everyone is selling garbage this year. Foster Grant is making their regular sunglass line with FG written largely on the arms. From IronMan to FG. What is wrong with them?

I went to the RIO, just to hang out. Upstairs I walked past a few stores selling "Las Vegas Style Sunglasses." The deal was buy two pairs at $10 each, and get a third pair free.

The Rio is a wonderful place, and I really enjoyed the Masquerade show, as I always do; but don't expect to buy good sunglasses there. I don't even understand what they meant by Las Vegas Style Sunglasses. They looked like crap to me.

A few years ago, I heard a story from some friends in New York. They went to Arizona, and saw a place which had a sign advertising New York Style Potato Knishes. They were served a bagel, sliced in half, with mashed potatoes dumped in it from an ice cream scooper.

The guy behind the counter assured them that that was a New York style knish. My friends screamed that they were from New York, and threw the mashed potato bagels against the wall, and walked out.

IronMan Sunglasses?

Las Vegas Style Sunglasses?

New York Style Knishes?

The labels don't mean anything. It's marketing without any substance. It's a claim without any validity. It's garbage!

I went into the Sahara a day or two ago. Just inside their north entrance on Las Vegas Boulevard, there is an old VW bus. It is done up with 60s designs, PEACE etc. It was not clear to me why the bus was there, but I am honestly not sure why I was there either.

A little while ago I visited the Sahara website, and I saw something about a 60s Party Pit. I clicked to find out about it, but the link never came through.

Even if the Sahara had a very clear sign on the bus explaining why it was there, I am not sure that I would believe it. Labels have not been good to me this week.

If I had more time, I would make up a story about how the VW bus is how the Sahara will be picking up their high rollers. But I do not have any more time, and I do not know why the bus is there.